Claire McCardell

 

Claire McCardell was one of the twentieth century's most influential women's sportswear designers. She was inspired by the active lifestyle of American women and is best known for her contributions to the "American look." McCardell designed for working women who wanted stylish, well-made clothing in washable fabrics that were easy to care for. She was known for casual sportswear, shirtwaist dresses, and wool jersey sheaths, as well as practical leisure clothing and swimwear, which she liked to refer to as "playclothes."

Fashion Education

McCardell was born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905, and attended Hood College for two years in the mid-1920s before graduating from the Parsons School of Design in New York City with a degree in fashion design in 1928. She spent a year in Paris as part of her studies. After working as a fit model for B. Altman and Company after graduation, McCardell went on to work as a salesperson and design assistant for Emmet Joyce, a Fifth Avenue exclusive, made-to-order salon. Within months, she was enticed away by knitwear manufacturer Sol Pollack to design and manage his Seventh Avenue cutting room, where she stayed for less than a year. By late 1929, McCardell was working as a design assistant for independent designer and dressmaker Robert Turk, who later hired her as chief designer at Townley Frocks in the early 1930s.

In 1932, Turk died unexpectedly in a boating accident, and McCardell was promoted to Townley's chief designer. With the exception of a brief hiatus in the early 1940s, McCardell remained with Townley throughout her career and eventually became a partner. McCardell worked at Hattie Carnegie while Townley's partners restructured their business; however, Townley quickly rehired her as their head designer.

Innovation

While most of McCardell's contemporaries followed the long-standing tradition of imitating Paris fashion, McCardell found inspiration in the lives of American women. McCardell was one of the first designers to successfully translate high-styled, reasonably priced, impeccably cut clothing into the mass-production arena, insisting that "clothes should be useful." McCardell (who had admired the work of Vionnet, Chanel, and Madame Grès as a student in Paris) turned her back on the expensive, handmade confections of haute couture and instead promoted American mass production, readily available materials, and the form-follows-function approach to design. Insisting that heavily decorated, padded, and corseted French fashions frequently sacrificed comfort for style, McCardell created clean-lined, comfortable clothes that demonstrated that such a sacrifice was not only unacceptable, but also unnecessary.

McCardell was once described by retail magnate Stanley Marcus as "the master of the line, never a slave to the sequins... one of the few truly creative designers this country has ever produced." McCardell became known for her self-tailoring, wrap-and-tie styles, backless halters, hook-and-eye closures, coordinated separates, racy bathing suits, and boldly printed, cotton plaid, shirtwaist dresses cut from men's shirting fabrics, eschewing shoulder pads, back zippers, boning, and heavily constructed looks. McCardell's fresh, youthful designs were founded on logic, informed by comfort, and replete with a common sense, entirely undecorated look. He was often referred to as "America's most American designer." McCardell's designs were "refreshingly 'unFrench," as veteran fashion model Suzy Parker put it. McCardell's first commercial success was the "Monastic" dress, an unfitted, waistless shift cut on the bias that hung straight from the waist and could be belted in any way the wearer desired in 1938. The Monastic was so successful that it was copied by competitors within a decade and remained in her own line in updated versions for nearly two decades. "Capsule dressing," or four- and five-piece mix-and-match separates groups in supple wool jersey, cotton, denim, and even taffeta, was another McCardell success story. These stylish, well-edited groupings provided women with a convenient travel wardrobe that sold for around $100 and could be tucked into a handbag. McCardell, an avid supporter of pants and wool jersey for both day and evening wear, provided American women with multiseasonal clothing that was easy to care for, comfortable, and stylish, but never conspicuously chic.

The "American Look"

McCardell's pared-down, casual American style became the hallmark of what became known as the "American look," the name under which McCardell's work and that of several other like-minded contemporaries, such as Tina Leser and Tom Brigance, was marketed at Lord and Taylor in the late 1930s and early 1940s. McCardell's designs gained credibility during WWII because they reflected an acute awareness of the changing roles of mid-century American women. McCardell eliminated the fuss, decoration, and strict categorization so common in women's apparel at the time by offering sportswear and daywear that were appropriate for the office, cocktail hour, and leisure. McCardell's 1942 blue denim "Popover" dress, which sold for only $6.95 and was made specifically for at-home domestic work or gardening, addressed practical needs by including an attached oven mitt. True to her problem-solving approach to fashion design, McCardell used everyday fabrics such as cotton calico, denim, jersey, and even synthetics, effectively elevating them through thoughtful design and deft execution. While restrained and disciplined, McCardell's work was not lacking in details: Severe, asymmetrical wrap necklines, yards-long sashes, spaghetti-string ties, double-needle top stitching, metal hook-and-eye closures, and even studded leather cuffs were among her signature, even idiosyncratic, "McCardellisms." McCardell's clothes became a staple in the wardrobes of college girls, working women, and housewives alike, thanks to their sleek lines and "no-price look."

Claire McCardell achieved international fame during her lifetime, appearing on the cover of Time magazine and publishing What Shall I Wear?, a book about her fashion philosophy, in 1957. She married architect Irving Drought Harris in 1943. McCardell was diagnosed with cancer at the height of her success in 1958. That same year, she died as a result of the disease.

McCardell's casually elegant, pared-down minimalism and lifestyle-driven sportswear of the late 1930s and 1940s helped forge and define what became known as the "American look," and heralded the beginning of a new appreciation for American fashion. "Without McCardell, it is simply impossible to imagine a Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, or Marc Jacobs," fashion historian Valerie Steele writes in Women of Fashion.